Read books that use strong imagery and colorful language. Discover new synonyms for often- used words in the dictionary and other sources. Keep vocabulary lists for students to refer to. Have students illustrate their favorite phrases.
Grades 4-6:
Get hyperbolic! A fun activity is to have students pose a question which begs an exaggerated answer. From the “teacher” sequence above: What kind of a teacher was she? She was the kind of teacher who could bore you to tears. How bright was her white shirt? It was so bright her students had to wear sunglasses and number 15 sun screen...and so on.
Grades 7 & up:
As a follow-up to the whole class and small group exercise, students work individually from a selected image and write a one to two page description, embedding three kernel statements and five transformed key nouns.
Sound Sighting
Writing About Soundscapes
Discovering “soundscapes” in Norman Rockwell’s pictures, students write sound impressions and organize them into free verse or descriptive writing.
Objectives
To analyze “soundscapes” of Rockwell’s art To employ imaginative and evocative language To create free verse or descriptive writing Preparation
Select Norman Rockwell images.
Gather writing and drawing materials for your students. Use chart tablet or blackboard for whole class experience Introduction
Norman Rockwell uses details to appeal to our senses and evoke memories and emotional responses. Obviously, when we look at a picture we are engaging our sense of sight. Although integrated into the experience of viewing a work of art, our other sense responses may be less immediate to us. This activity asks students to focus on the sense of sound experienced in looking at Rockwell’s “soundscapes.”
Browse through the Rockwell images provided in the resource packet and choose ones that will have a strong appeal to your students.
Development
General:
Whole Class Experience SOUND IMPRESSIONS
Ask the whole class to look at one image together and think about all the sounds they would hear if they were transported into the world of the picture. The sounds they “hear” should be based on actual or implied details in the picture. Make a list of six to twelve sound
impressions on the board. When the list is complete go back through it and ask students to expand the sound impressions using adjectives, adverbs and figures of speech and
personification. Write expansions on board or chart tablet. Expansions should be no longer than about 10 to 12 words per phrase.
1. What adjectives describe the sound impression?
2. Are there adverbs that quantify any verbs used in the sound impression? 3. Perhaps there are figures of speech that describe the action?
4. Can you personify a sound.
EXAMPLE
From “Shuffleton’s Barbershop,”:
A violin An out of tune violin croons from a well-lighted room Cat meow The neighborhood cat chants a friendly meow Crackling fire A crackling fire whispers warm red tones Dripping faucet The faucet drips in three-quarter time A clarinet The clarinet argues its case
Take a look at your finished list of sound impressions and decide as a class which order they should be in to create the most pleasing flow of ideas. Do this group exercise a few more times to prepare your students for working in a small group or individual experience.
Small Group Experience
Divide your class into groups of partners or triads. Give a picture to each group and ask each member to write six sound impressions. The groups selects the three best impressions from each person. Each person then recopies the chosen sound impressions on separate slips of paper. Then the group arranges and rearranges the slips of paper until a pleasing flow of words and ideas is achieved. They select a title and proofread and edit as a group. The final poem is shared with the rest of the class.
Grades K-3:
After the group experience, have each student copy the phrases, one to a sheet of paper. Each student then illustrates the idea of the individual sound impressions. Or try having students create characters for their sound impressions, dress up and do an improvisational theater piece.
Grades 4-6:
Students work individually to write free verse poems or to connect their sound impressions to create a piece of descriptive writing, adding and inventing details to make the writing flow.
Grades 7 & up:
Have students combine sound impressions from a number of different images into a piece of abstract or surreal writing.
Conclusion
Compile a classroom book of poetry and prose and invite other classes for author readings, performances and receptions.
Tale Spinning
A Storybuilding Writing Exercise
As a group, students construct a story based on a Norman Rockwell image and then individually develop a piece of creative writing.
Objectives
To focus on literary elements of character, plot, setting and mood. To experiment with words and ideas both verbally and in writing.
To produce a piece of writing based on ideas in Norman Rockwell images. Preparation
Select three or four Norman Rockwell images. Have writing and drawing materials available. Introduction
Group storybuilding is a lot of fun and a good way to warm your students up to stepping into the world of a picture. You will be guiding their responses with an attention to character, plot, setting and mood. Accept any response and build upon it. Let the ideas come freely from the group. Encourage unusual ideas and plot twists. Try to allow everyone the chance to
contribute to the story. Reiterate key story development ideas that come up. You may wish to write key story elements on the board or on chart tablet.
Development
General:
Here are some of the guiding questions to ask as your students build their story: Character: Who are these people? What are their names? What is their relationship to each other? Do they like each other? Why or why not? What has happened to them to create their relationship? What does each character want? What were the characters doing before we see them in the picture? What kind of characters can we create out of inanimate objects in the picture?
Setting: Where does the picture take place? What kind of a day is it? How does it smell, taste, sound, feel? What sensations are the characters experiencing in this environment?
Plot: Just keep asking again and again what’s happening, how did it happen, when did it happen, why did it happen, what will happen next, etc. What event could happen to cause the characters to act in an unexpected way?
Mood and Details: These story elements should come naturally from building the story around character, setting and plot. Ask students how characters feel. Make sure that they incorporate details from Rockwell’s image in the plot.
After group storybuilding, students develop individual stories:
Grades K-3:
Considering Rockwell’s image as the middle of the story, have children write and illustrate the beginning, middle and end of the group story, including any personal changes they wish to make. Share stories with group.
Grades 4-6:
Guide students towards creating a tense moment in their group storybuilding — then stop! Ask students to write individually about how the tension will be resolved. Share writing.
Grades 7 & up:
Write the story created by the group from the point of view of two different characters. Share writing.
Conclusion
Develop writing further through drafting and editing. Have students illustrate their own stories. Hang prints of the Norman Rockwell images that inspired the stories and invite other classes in for author readings.